This false-color image shows the
central region of our Milky Way Galaxy as seen by
Chandra. The bright, point-like source at the
center of the image was produced by a huge X-ray flare
that occurred in the vicinity of the supermassive black
hole at the center of our galaxy. This central black
hole has about 2.6 million times the mass of our Sun
and is associated with the compact radio source
Sagittarius A*.

During the observation the X-ray source at the
galactic center brightened dramatically in a few
minutes, and after about 3 hours, rapidly declined to
the pre-flare level. The rapid variation in X-ray
intensity indicates that the flare was due to material
as close to the black hole as the Earth is to the Sun.
This is the most compelling evidence yet that matter
falling toward the black hole is fueling energetic
activity in the galactic center.